Opera Browser Usage and Support Forum

A number of websites are now including the various link options in their page code. Besides offering search engines an enhanced "look" at a sites main navigation scheme or related pages, the <link> element provides a means of improved site navigation to users.

Both Opera and Mozilla offer means to display the <link rel="some.page.htm"> but Opera's method is at once more easily accessible initially and available as a permanent view option.

To view Opera's Navigation Bar go to VIEW/Navigation Bar/Auto. The Navigation Bar will then display as needed.

...add to the usefulness. Mozilla offers a wider variety of link options, but Opera's is by far the most user friendly. If you have Opera 7 and have not activated the Navigation Bar, then do so now and check it out!

Cool deal! I was wondering when all of my link rel tags were going to come into play outside of the spider based SEs. That's nice how it comes in view only if the link rel tags are being utilized.

Authors may use the following recognized link types, listed here with their conventional interpretations. White space characters are not permitted within link types. These link types are case insensitive, i.e., Alternate has the same meaning as alternate.

User agents, search engines, etc. may interpret these link types in a variety of ways. For example, user agents may provide access to linked documents through a navigation bar.

AlternateDesignates substitute versions for the document in which the link occurs. When used together with the lang attribute , it implies a translated version of the document. When used together with the media attribute, it implies a version designed for a different medium (or media).

<link rel="alternate" href="link-reference">

StylesheetRefers to an external style sheet. See the section on external style sheets for details. This is used together with the link type Alternate for user selectable alternate style sheets.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="link-reference">

StartRefers to the first document in a collection of documents. This link type tells search engines which document is considered by the author to be the starting point of the collection.

<link rel="start" href="link-reference">

NextRefers to the next document in a linear sequence of documents. User agents may choose to preload the "next" document, to reduce the perceived load time.

<link rel="next" href="link-reference">

PrevRefers to the previous document in an ordered series of documents. Some user agents also support the synonym Previous.

<link rel="prev" href="link-reference">

ContentsRefers to a document serving as a table of contents. Some user agents also support the synonym ToC (from Table of Contents).

<link rel="contents" href="link-reference">

IndexRefers to a document providing an index for the current document.

<link rel="index" href="link-reference">

GlossaryRefers to a document providing a glossary of terms that pertain to the current document.

<link rel="glossary" href="link-reference">

CopyrightRefers to a copyright statement for the current document.

<link rel="copyright" href="link-reference">

ChapterRefers to a document serving as a chapter in a collection of documents.

<link rel="chapter" href="link-reference">

SectionRefers to a document serving as a section in a collection of documents.

<link rel="section" href="link-reference">

SubsectionRefers to a document serving as a subsection in a collection of documents.

<link rel="subsection" href="link-reference">

AppendixRefers to a document serving as an appendix in a collection of documents.

<link rel="appendix" href="link-reference">

HelpRefers to a document offering help (more information, links to other sources information, etc.)

<link rel="help" href="link-reference">

BookmarkRefers to a bookmark. A bookmark is a link to a key entry point within an extended document. The title attribute may be used, for example, to label the bookmark. Note that several bookmarks may be defined in each document.

It never fails though, once we start sharing all these neat little usability secrets, the abuse comes into play.

For years now I've used recommendations from the W3C in regards to site structure and development. I feel strongly that those recommendations have had an impact on the overall indexibility of the sites that I build and manage.

I've been preparing for the shift. I keep my nose to the ground when it comes to the W3C and the overall structuring of a site. There is definitely some great information to be obtained from the W3C. At times, you need to know how to read between the lines. ;)

Mozilla offers a wider variety of link options, but Opera's is by far the most user friendly.

I disagree. Mozilla also has this hidden bar, but the difference is that Opera has a fixed range of buttons. Whereas Mozilla allows you to define ones as you need, which appear in the Document and More menus.

Take a trip to the W3C site and you'll see what I mean. Or the BBC UK news website. They both offer RSS feeds which I don't think Opera can show. The W3C site has bookmarks to chapters and more, invisible when using Opera.

I like the way you can define new links yourself. The name you give them shows up in the menus.

Also sites have started adding titles to the links to aid accessibility. So the "prev" link might show "Back to the Welcome page" when you hover over the button. But Opera does not show titles. Instead it gives you the keyboard shortcuts in a tooltip.